


Hanging by a Thread

by Peachy_SodaPop



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Sam is a good boyfriend, Sebastian is literally trying not to die, TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of anxiety, TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of depression, pls give critique, trigger warning: mentions of death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28156686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peachy_SodaPop/pseuds/Peachy_SodaPop
Summary: One night, while Sebastian is in his favorite place, he experiences the scariest moment of his life.This is a more experimental fic so ye
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	Hanging by a Thread

Sebastian always tries to stay calm. He’s the kind of person who acts like he doesn’t give two shits about anything. His jokes are all deadpan and edgy and when he smiles it’s a jagged, disney villain esque expression

Sebastian likes to think he’s calm, cold, and edgy.

But right now, he’s definitely not any of those things. Hanging by a thin tree root sticking out from the cliff, he’s screaming his lungs out.

He’s not sure how it happened. One second, he was sitting on the cliff smoking, the next he was falling. He’d grabbed the first thing he could, and forced himself to stay clung on.

It was the cliff he often went to- a secret spot where he could just think. Sometimes he’d go there when he felt anxious, or depressed. And sometimes he came just for the view of the city.

No one knew about it.

No one knew he was here.

And Sebastian was sure he’d be dead in two hours max.

He’d tried to climb up the root, but he wasn’t able to reach the top of the cliff from where the root was. So he did the next best thing, and tried to look for a ledge, something he could try to get to so he could stand. But he never looked down- he was too smart to do that. 

After a while, his voice became dry, probably from all the screaming. 

All he could do was hang there and think, either until he lost his grip or was saved. His lungs hurt so badly, so he stopped screaming. He wished he’d worn something brighter- his dark clothes would make it impossible for him to be spotted at this time of night. He didn’t have his phone- it had fallen too, and he hadn’t been able to catch it. Even if he had his phone, he didn’t have service.

And so, he began thinking. It was all he could do.

\----------------------------------------------------

When he was around five, he and his mom had moved to Pelican Town. There, Robin had met Demetrius, who had been the doctor in town at the time. Sebastian hated Demetrius, because Demetrius treated Sebastian like he was his dad. Sebastian wasn’t Demetrius’s son, and he’d never be. Sebastian’s own dad had died just a year prior, of a heart attack. The wound was still fresh for the young boy, so he never grew to love his mom’s boyfriend.

Two years later, Robin had gotten married and was now expecting another child. Sebastian’s room was moved downstairs.

When Maru was born, Sebastian was forgotten about. The fact he had no friends made it worse. He became obsessed with books and video games as a coping mechanism, and worked harder at school to try to make his parents proud. But they didn’t notice. They were too focused on the baby, as if she had anything interesting going on.

His loneliness ended when Sam entered his life. He’d been looking for frogs in the pond when a younger boy with curly blonde hair approached and exclaimed “I like your freckles!”

Ever since then, he and Sam had been each other’s lifeline. They did everything together, to the point where Sam’s mom joked that Sebastian was like a second son.

After a while, they began to spend more time with the shopkeeper's daughter, a roundish girl with light brown hair. She had an obsession with ghosts, fantasy creatures, and magic. Perfect for their group.

\----------------------------------------------------

He stopped thinking for a moment- remembering his situation. Reflecting on his childhood had been a bad idea- his grip had loosened a bit and his eyes had become glassy.

He tightened his grip, but both hands were extremely sweaty and it didn’t do much.

For a fraction of a second he broke his own rule and looked down, not because he meant to look, but because his neck was tired from being held up so firmly. He tightened his grip, trying to stay calm as his eyes scanned down the cliff. It was a long drop, and in the dark he couldn’t tell if it was water or land below him. He didn’t want to find out.

He tried screaming again, but his voice was so sore and he winced in pain, and instead he allowed the tears to flow down his face and rain down into the darkness. And more memories filled his head.

\----------------------------------------------------

He and Sam had been friends for years, but he wanted more.

A year earlier, Abigail had gotten in a relationship with a guy from the choir club Sam was in, and every time Sebastian saw them together he’d imagine the same scenario with him and Sam- and his jealousy grew until he actually began to hate Abigail. That blew over quickly, though. Because on the last night of summer, the moonlight jellies, he and Sam had sat together, and had their first kiss.

They began their last year of highschool together, and ended it the same way. He and Sam seemed to mirror each other in a way that made things work.

That same year he’d entered a coding class and began learning about making video games, something he’d wanted to do since he first became obsessed with them, almost twelve years ago. That same year, he won a school award for his fist video game he’d made, as well as an award for the poetry he’d written for an english class. His last year in school had by far been his happiest. With how popular he’d gotten by winning two awards, any bullies who’d harassed him previous years had backed off, and he could rest easy knowing that no one would try to chop off his hair in the hallway.

He remembered his long hair- dyed black locks that he kept loose. 

He remembered how Sam would braid his hair absentmindedly in class, and how Abby would beg him to let her dye it- a request he’d only humored her on once, which caused him to have pink hair for three weeks straight.

He’d convinced himself to grow it out until it reached his thighs- a dream which never ended up happening. Demetrius had ‘accidentally’ burnt half of it off when he’d asked Sebastian for help with a science project. Sebastian had never forgiven the man for it.

After that incident, he’d gotten it cut with layers and a fringe that covered half of his face. He missed having long hair, but figured he’d grow too impatient if he tried growing it out again. When it had been burnt off, it had been down to his mid-back, something he didn’t want to wait for again.

\----------------------------------------------------

Sebastian wasn’t sure what time it was or how long he’d been holding on. His whole body ached, and he was sure his hands had twenty blisters each. But he clung on. 

His throat had stopped hurting as much, so he called out again, this time quieter and with less force. 

No one came, still.

He knew people hiked up on these mountains sometimes- but right now it was nearly night time, and if anyone was nearby, they were probably asleep in a tent.

\----------------------------------------------------

After highschool, Sebastian’s life had been a rush of dates with Sam, Band practice, Solarian Chronicles meetups, and work. He’d begun work on a big project- a story game with music written by Sam and everything else done by himself. Aside from that, he’d opened up a fiverr account where he took coding commissions, and also helped design websites for people. 

He had been doing all this to save up to move to the city with Sam after they got married. He’d planned it all out, how he’d propose to Sam at the park in Zuzu city. He’d rehearsed his words over and over.

“Sam, we’ve been dating for four years now. I think that’s enough proof to say that I want to be with you forever, and you want to be with me forever. So, will you be my husband?” And then he’d get down on one knee and pull out a box of matching rings- he hadn’t picked any out yet- and hope Sam would say yes. 

And then, after their wedding day, they’d pack up their things into a moving van, and live the rest of their lives together. Maybe they’d adopt kids, maybe they’d only get a dog. Sebastian wasn’t sure what would come after, he just knew he’d be happy.

\----------------------------------------------------

Now that he began thinking about Sam, he really began to realize how stupid scary this situation was.

If he fell, he and Sam would never get married. Never have kids. They’d never be able to wake up at some ungodly hour just to eat pancakes. And Sam would be so sad. Sad in a way that Sebastian hadn’t ever seen him, and never wanted to see.

If he fell, he’d never finish his video game.

If he fell, he’d never go on tour with Sam and Abigail as a band.

Sebastian didn’t know what to do. So he just cried, his unbreakable facade of coldness shattered by the fear he felt in that very moment. Fear of death, fear of what would happen to other people if he died. Sure, he might join his dad, wherever he was, but Sam would feel abandoned, and both he and Abigail would surely throw themselves off a cliff too. So he had to stay alive for the people who cared about him.

Sebastian was hanging on by a thread, powered by his love for his friends and his fear of losing them.


End file.
